Mercury will station retrograde in Virgo on August 23rd at exactly 2:59 pm CDT and will continue this backward motion until September 15th. Retrogrades always create challenges for us, and this will be no exception. Making matters even more intense, this retrograde will also affect the Sun in Virgo as Mercury is its ruler, so prepare for an especially tricky next few weeks. Focus on communicating as clearly as possible, back up any important documents, and understand that mistakes may happen, and that’s okay.
With this particular retrograde, we can expect that details will be missed, plans will not go accordingly, our analysis will be incomplete, and the ways we help will be incorrect. Accepting that not everything will go how we’d like will be essential if we want to maintain a healthy attitude. It may be tempting to rely on overthinking as a sort of safety net, but that will most likely lead to analysis paralysis and frustration. Let’s remember that the point of Mercury retrograde cycles is to show us what we’ve missed, what mistakes we’ve made, and how all of that can help us grow into better versions of ourselves.
Mercury only makes two connections while retrograde. The first is on September 3rd, when it connects pleasantly with Jupiter. This is a nice moment for us to reflect on issues regarding our resources and where we could have used better judgment.
The second and final connection occurs on September 5th, when the Sun and Mercury meet. Avoid making important decisions around this time as we don’t have the clarity we usually would. Past choices may come back to haunt us around this time as well.
With this Mercury retrograde in Virgo, it may be all too easy for us to become overly self-critical as circumstances out of our control create doubt and frustration. Let’s try to avoid getting on the endless treadmill of regret and understand that we can only move forward and do our best. Mistakes will happen during this retrograde, but it’s how we handle them that matters.